City officials there have found 25 dead ducks in recent days, and are scrambling to figure out who or what is responsible. At first, officials believed the ducks were killed by rock-throwing cretins. But now they believe the ducks are being felled by avian botulism caused in part by heavy rains:

Health Director Frank Singleton says hot weather and heavy rain flush nutrients into the river, robbing the water of oxygen and allowing the bacteria to flourish. The bacteria attacks the ducks’ nervous systems, causing them to drown. There is no danger to humans.

BREAKING: Officials in Lowell now believe foul play, and not avian botulism, is to blame for more than two dozen duck deaths in Lowell. Authorities are now searching for the individual shown below, who was captured by a city surveillance camera in the area where the ducks were found dead: